Charles Fletcher Lummis began his spectacular career in 1884 by walking from Ohio to start a new job at the three-year old Los Angeles Times. By the time of his death in 1928, the 3,500 mile "tramp across the continent" was just a footnote in his astonishingly varied career: crusading journalist, author of nearly two dozen books, editor of the influential political and literary magazine Out West, Los Angeles city librarian, preserver of Spanish missions, and Indian rights gadfly. Lummis both embodied and defined our vision of the West, and of America itself.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Thompson, whose work has appeared in several eminent publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Atlantic Monthly and the New Republic, paints an honest, vivid portrait of a man whose life was nothing short of cinematic. Charles Lummis (1859-1928) author, journalist, editor, photographer, adventurer and fervent champion of Indian rights did more than capture the spirit of the Southwest at the turn of the century; he preserved its dignity and Native American tradition, even while his own dignity was called into question as the result of personal scandals and financial woes. It all began in 1885, when Lummis walked from Cincinnati to Los Angeles 3,507 miles to begin his writing career with the Los Angeles Times. He would go on to edit the highly popular magazine Out West, write poetry and books, teach himself photography and guitar, undertake an archeological expedition to Peru, become head librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library, keep a consistent diary and pen tens of thousands of letters not even allowing partial paralysis and blindness to hinder his productivity. A human dynamo who worked and socialized to excess, Lummis dedicated his writing and his enthusiasm to fighting racial violence, intolerance and discrimination. Thanks to his fond affiliation with Theodore Roosevelt, Lummis became a force in reshaping national Indian policy. Scholars have been quick to discredit his achievements because of his often inflated ego, obsession with sex, eccentric dress and demeanor, and lapses in common sense at crucial strategic moments but Thompson exalts Lummis's vital accomplishments without covering up any of his flaws. The result is a compulsively engaging and spirited biography detailing the rise and fall of a man as colorful as he was influential. (Mar.) Forecast: This is a natural sell in the Southwest, including southern California where the author will make publicity appearances and among readers of western history and Native American affairs wherever they reside.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
A century ago, almost everyone recognized the name Charles Fletcher Lummis journalist, poet, author, photographer, editor of Out West magazine, and advocate of Indian rights. Today he has been largely forgotten. In a well-written biography that draws on Lummis's personal papers and many books and articles, as well as other archival sources, Thompson rescues Lummis from undeserved obscurity and places him in the context of his era. Thompson shows how a flair for publicity and journalism in college led Lummis to undertake a walk across the country in 1884-85, resulting in his settling in Los Angeles and becoming a tireless promoter of the Southwest. This led to a period of residence in the Isleta Pueblo and his espousal of Indian rights and a friendship with Theodore Roosevelt. An important work; recommended for libraries with an interest in the Southwest, journalism, and Native Americans. Stephen H. Peters, Northern Michigan Univ. Lib., Marquette
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a fascinating man of his time!,
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This review is from: American Character : Curious Life of Charles Fletcher Lummis and the Rediscovery of the Southwest (Hardcover)
Mark Thompson's long & deeply researched biography of a forgotten, complex American born just before the Civil War, is fascinating. Over a long & restless life, Charles Lummis became a poet, prolific letter writer, journalist, photographer, archaeologist, editor, champion of Spanish heritage in the Americas, & Indian Rights advocate - the classic workaholic of the late 19th & early 20th Centuries.It was his TRAMP ACROSS THE CONTINENT in 1884, which he weekly serialized in newspaper articles, that catapulted him into the public's eye. In time, as his assignments for the newly-formed Los Angeles Times, took him deeper into the Southwest which would capture his heart & soul, & closer to the American Indians for whom he would advocate mightily, he caught the ear of a President. Theodore Roosevelt came to consider Lummis a vital part of his "cowboy cabinet," & often invited him to Washington. Lummis enjoyed a life-long influence, via his editorials & many books, on the way Americans thought of themselves. In this era of bland plasticity, AMERICAN CHARACTER, reminds us of how individualistic, passionate, offensive & charming our forefathers were. It also reminds us of how devastating was our impact upon the people & the land in a time when a man could bemoan the wholesale slaughter of buffalo & Indians, while not batting an eye as he shot other critters just for the thrill of it! In the light of today's political correctness, Charles Fletcher Lummis' love life was as gilded with misogyny as you would expect from a man of his time - he kept his first marriage secret all through his Harvard years. As in every other aspect of his life, his thirst for affection & companionship was both utilitarian & fascinatingly eccentric. AMERICAN CHARACTER: Charles Fletcher Lummis & the Rediscovery of the Southwest, has been named by the Western Writers of America as Winner of the 2002 Spur Award in the biography category.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mark Thompson does a fantastic job,
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This review is from: American Character : Curious Life of Charles Fletcher Lummis and the Rediscovery of the Southwest (Hardcover)
Charles Lummis is a very interesting person in American and Southwest history, but author Thompson goes way beyond what most biographers would do and produced a richly researched and highly readable story. I read this book in my car, under a streetlight, while my wife attended a Christmas function. Does that tell you how interesting it is? I've passed Lummis's home/museum thousands of times but never visited--now I will.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Readable bio of a complicated life,
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This review is from: American Character : Curious Life of Charles Fletcher Lummis and the Rediscovery of the Southwest (Hardcover)
I live within walking distance of Lummis' home El Alisal. It's fitting that it perches on the edge of what was the Arroyo Seco (dry gulch) whose raw beauty had attracted Lummis and early settlers. And symbolic in that the world's first freeway rushes past it now. In fact, El Alisal faced demolition until preservationists--always outnumbered in L.A.--saved the site. Lummis gave his adopted city a complicated heritage: he boosted its Spanish Californian image and so lured many newcomers who overwhelmed the vistas of fragile arroyo, hills and valleys with millions more homes. The millions clogged the roads, and so freeways followed, along the riverbeds now encased in concrete.
Mark Thompson's biography follows that assembled two decades earlier by Lummis' daughter and edited by his son from Lummis' own manuscripts, and one biography from the mid-70s that dwelt on Lummis but with far less access to personal papers. Thompson has access, and has used his resources well to more fully explore the complexity of a truly memorable character whose legacy spanned the Southwest, as he sought to preserve and conserve Native American artifacts and cultures as well as restore the California missions, create a world-class municipal library, write for what became the city's leading newspaper, and still found time to build El Alisal from boulders in the arroyo, hold there wonderfully wacky parties, carry on love affairs, conduct archeological research, ruin three marriages, keep a menagerie of animals and people at his home, and roam off from it on even more travels that followed his first publicity stunt--he sought sponsorship by keeping a travelogue weekly sent to newspapers in an early commercial tie-in for one who sought celebrity-- on his "tramp across the continent" (or most of it!) to Los Angeles from Chillicothe, Ohio, a Harvard dropout at 25 in 1888. Naturally an exciting story, but Thompson digs deeper into how Lummis reflected but overcame some of the prejudices common to the East Coast elite from whose lower ranks he came, and how he struggled with a tempestuous personal life and a libido that created tension, led to an early stroke, and led him on even more intimate adventures much less documented. The readable yet thoroughly documented text reads at a brisk pace; all facets of Lummis' many angles gain clarity. Well-chosen photos capture the idiosyncracies of this unforgettable sombrero-bright green corduroy suit-and-Navajo belt attired eccentric, who did so much to both sustain and unwittingly erase the traces of the Spanish and Native California he came to love.
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